


Chicken Broth

by Farore_Courage



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Niflheim (Final Fantasy XV), Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Prompto Argentum Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-26
Updated: 2019-10-26
Packaged: 2021-01-03 13:02:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,203
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21179867
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Farore_Courage/pseuds/Farore_Courage
Summary: Aranea has no fucking clue what she was doing. Seeing the kid being treated as an object, as some sort of burden was when she finally snapped. So now she's on the run from the Empire. Fucking fantastic.(It's worth all the trouble to get one of his shaky smiles. Even if she has to deal with his annoying ass brother.)





	Chicken Broth

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, this is my first fanfiction that I've written in years, so please be kind! Please inform me if I made grammatical or spelling mistakes. Constructive criticism would be greatly appreciated. Please enjoy!

Godsdamit. Gods-fucking-dammit. Whatever possessed her to think that this was a good idea? Now this problem child and her are on the run from the fucking Niflheim government who don’t exactly care if they’re brought in alive. She could practically hear the scathing her mom would have given her if she was still alive.

_She remembers calloused fingers running gently through her silver hair. “ My Kappi, you do not fully grasp the dangers of following your heart. While it is certainly admirable to follow the whims of one’s heart, it could lead to disastrous consequences. I do not…” her mother paused before continuing, “You need to think before you act Kappi or else you will-“_

_“Mó_ _đir, you’re hurting me,” whined a young Aranea. The women blinked before realizing how she no longer was carding through her daughter’s hair but tightly clutching it. “Ah, forgive me Kappi I seem to have lost some sense of mind.” Aranea shrugged, easily forgiving her mother, as her mother continued to cautiously play with her hair._

“Ara-Aranea?” a soft voice said while tugging on her sleeve,“You told me to remind you when it starts to get late, so that you could hunt the daemons.” Finished with his talking the kid took a step back and looked at the ground while fidgeting with his worn-out gloves that Aranea had given him only hours ago.

She shook her head to get rid of memories long past. Right, time to focus on the matter at hand. Ever since the events at Zegnautus Keep had occurred, Aranea had been in the run and taking care of one child soldier in training. They jumped from town to town and barely staying at any area for too long. Throughout it all the kid had barely spoke, instead would simply have a thousand yard stare unless being spoken to. It was unnerving to say the least, even Aranea understood that ordinary six year olds did not frequently disassociate from their surroundings. The kid most likely would need years of therapy to heal from all the bullshit that Verstael bastard had put him through. Aranea had glanced at some of the his files while she was at the Keep and what she saw made her sick. The way those reports were written made him sound like some object.

Aranea grimaced and look down at the kid. Gods she really had to give a name to the kid because simply calling him kid is getting old.

“Ah, thanks kid, but did you think of a name yet? Calling you kid all the time is starting to get tiring.” The kid didn’t even seem aware that she had asked the question, he just continued staring at her before looking nervously away, biting his lip before he slowly shook his head. Aranea sighed and saw him flinch, “Kid I’m not mad at you, but- um you need a name and I’m not calling you by those string of numbers they gave you” she said. He started to nervously fidget, so Aranea started to pack what she would need for the hunt.

“I used to be called Aleksander,” he murmured so quietly that Aranea almost missed it, “I-I would like to be called that again.” He looked at Aranea after saying his tidbit before starting to fidget even more. Aranea gave what she hoped was a placating smile to soothe his nerves, but instead seemed to make him more nervous if his stature was anything to go by. Ah shit, she so out of her comfort zone when it came to the kid- Aleksander. Never mind the fact that this used to be second nature to her.

She glanced up at the sky and sure enough the sun was starting to set. “Okay here’s the plan, I’m going to cook this can of uh creamy potato soup we bought from the market the other day and them I’m going to hunt some daemons to get money from the bounty. Got it?” Aleksander furrowed his brow before slowly nodding. Aranea quickly began to set up cooking the soup, periodically looking at the ki- Aleksander to make sure he was alright. Soon enough the soup was cooked well enough to eat. She took a bite of a semi-frozen potato chunk while trying to hide her grimace; the sorry excuse of a soup had nothing on the _real _thing. Meanwhile, Aleksander was scarfing his serving down as Aranea guiltily remembered how they hadn’t really had time to relax and eat today; constantly on the run from the Empire was fucking exhausting. They finished their meal and Aranea checked her equipment and weapons before Aleksander interrupted her thoughts.

“I’m going to be alone?” he asked softly. “No, not entirely ” said Aranea before she reached for her bag, hesitatingly and slowly pulled a gun out of it, all the while staring intently at the kid to gauge his reaction. As predicted, his eyes widened and his fingers started to tremble a bit. “I’m sure they taught you how to use this?” The kid stared at the gun as if he didn’t hear her words at all. Well shit- Aranea definitely wasn’t qualified to deal with whatever traumatic shit those bastards had done to him, but she is not stupid enough to take a fucking toddler with her to hunt, no matter how freakishly skilled he might be from weird daemon magic. It doesn’t change the fact that he is around eight or nine fucking years old. Except he still needs to be able to protect himself while she’s away, so he needs the gun.

She took the gun and gently forced his hands around the weapon before he started to firmly grasp it. “You won’t be gone for long, right?” pleaded Aleksander. “I’ll be back before you know it” Aranea said. She gathered all her supplies, glanced back once to see Aleksander clutching the gun close to his chest, as if it was his lifeline, and walked away from the campsite to the dangers of the night.

At around early morning when the birds start to sing, Aranea returned to camp. Dragging her feet from tiredness, but satisfied with a job well done she was looking forward to the nap she would get on the train when they bought the tickets with the bounty. “A-Aranea?” Aleksander said, prompting Aranea to finally notice him. He had bags under his eyes, telling Aranea that he definitely did not sleep last night. “Aleksander, did you stay awake all night?” He nodded enthusiastically, “I was sc-scared that something might have happened and what if-if a daemon came to the campsite while you were away? I just couldn’t sleep. Sorry.” She sighed before saying, “It’s alright just don’t worry too much I could handle myself out there ok?” Aleksander look unsure before hesitatingly nodding. “Come on let’s start to pack so we can have time to get our bounty and sleep in the train.” Aranea rubbed the sleep out of her eyes before focusing on the task at hand, knowing that she is going to get this kid out of Niflheim if it was the last thing she fucking did. He deserved a chance to be a child.

**Author's Note:**

> * Kappi means champion
> 
> I've had this idea of Prompto and Aranea (and possibly Loqi?) having a sibling relationship in this alternate universe. But I also wanted to explore the culture of Niflheim which really isn't explored. Hence why Prompto's name (at least for now) is Aleksander because him having a "Lucis" name wouldn't really make sense if he's from Niflheim. I almost gave up on writing this, but lately I had a burst of inspiration I guess. You can find me on tumblr as flipoftheflap


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